


Cold Night Somewhere

by Winterling42



Series: I am also a We [8]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sense8 (TV) Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: Caduceus gets some expected bad news. Surprisingly, he isn't alone to hear about it...
Relationships: Caduceus Clay & Yasha
Series: I am also a We [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1427866
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	Cold Night Somewhere

The evening sun cast long shadows across the front yard, gold and orange and red by turns. The sky to the east was already black, the stars starting to peek through the blue in a couple of places. Caduceus Clay sat on the porch of his family's house, nursing a pot of tea and thinking very hard. It was difficult, with the day being so nice, and the work done, to make his thoughts turn over with any great speed. And there was so very much to think about--the woman in the kitchen who was the spitting image of a portrait hanging in his family’s shrine, the half-dreamed smell of wet asphalt on a sunny day. Other, odder visions of people he’d never seen. Places he’d never been to. Oh yes, something was happening. He just wasn’t sure what.

In the face of all that considering, he was happy enough to hear a car rumbling down the long dirt driveway, headlights shining gold over the rutted path. In the loaming light, he could see the roof lights and official seal of the sheriff's department on the door as he stood to greet them. He paused, looking down as his pot of tea, then shrugged and walked down the porch steps to where the car was just pulling to a stop next to the rusty farm truck that was all the Clays had left. 

"How ya doing?" he asked, as Sheriff Caldwell stepped out. 

"Not bad, not bad Mr. Clay." the Sheriff tilted his hat, and Caduceus smiled. He was still not used to being called that, but as the only Clay left...well, he supposed he was the head of the household, or what passed for it. "You all right?" 

"Just drinking some tea," Caduceus said, waving back up at the porch. "Don't suppose you'd like a cup?" 

The Sheriff glanced around the garden a little nervously, Clay thought. That was interesting. He took his hat off and turned it round and round in his hands, holding the felt tight enough to crease it. Caduceus sighed. Bad news again. 

"I'm alright, Mr. Clay. I just stopped by to make sure you'd gotten the notice." 

There was a very official letter sitting on top of the pile of unopened mail next to the door. Caduceus blew out another sigh and wished he'd brought his cup of tea. "I suppose I did." 

And then everything shifted around him--everything _except_ the curl of thorny anxiety and anticipation in his stomach. He was standing in a gas station, and everyone was staring at him. Not that there were many people to stare--and the place seemed bigger than most gas stations he'd been to, with a little deli bar and everything. But the cashier at the front was leaning over her station to watch him walk past, and the bored-looking man sitting in front of the bathrooms was staring with open curiosity. Caduceus smiled at him, reflexively, and the man flinched back. 

The unpleasant vine in his belly got bigger. In the glass of the refrigerator next to him, he caught a glimpse of a woman--easily as tall as he was, but much heavier, with a mane of thick black hair--but when he looked there was no one standing next to him. 

"Mr. Clay?" the Sheriff asked, and Caduceus blinked. Twice. Inhaled the smell of warm dust and plants. 

"Yeah."

"I was asking if you'd seen the date on that notice. It being the day after tomorrow, and all." the Sheriff was looking at him a little oddly. Caduceus was used to that, though. 

"It's a court date, right?" he asked. "Same place as usual?" 

The Sheriff spun his had around a few more times. "Yep." 

"Then I guess I'll be there. As usual." 

Sheriff Caldwell took a deep breath, let it out as a sigh. His mouth did something complicated between resignation and necessity. "I don't suppose I like it any more than you do," he said, looking again back towards the garden. "Seems like most folks around know somebody buried out here."

"But?" Caduceus pressed lightly on the silence, seeing that Caldwell wasn't quite finished. 

"Well," the Sheriff laughed awkwardly. "Progress is progress, I guess." 

"Hmm. Suppose so." Caduceus didn't quite agree, but this wasn't the time to say so--he'd just spotted a large black motorcycle in front of the house that hadn't been there a second ago. Something behind his eyes was...waiting for him to look again, to change what he saw. "You'll have to excuse me, Sheriff," he said, standing very still. Not blinking. "There's something I need to get to." 

"Right, sure thing." Caldwell spun his hat one more time and put it back on his head. He hesitated, frowning now in Caduceus's direction, but didn't say anything else as he got back into his dusty car and pulled away. 

Before he'd even left the driveway, as soon as Caduceus blinked, he was back in the gas station. Or right outside of it, really. The woman from the reflection was leaning against the wall just in front of the black motorcycle, watching him from underneath heavily shadowed eyelids. "Who are you?" she asked, in a soft accent he didn't recognize. "Why are you following me?" 

Caduceus smiled with just his eyes, tilting his head a little to study her more closely. "My name's Caduceus Clay, Miss. I could ask what you're doing on my farm, but, well. I think it's pretty obvious, don't you?"

He took a step away, back towards--the house, and the porch, and his cup of tea still steaming a little in the cold mountain air. Behind him, the woman took in a sharp, startled breath. 

"Did you want some tea?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder. She stared around for another moment, taking in the open space that served somewhat as a lawn and somewhat as a parking lot (in better days, when there had been more cars coming home). The fenced-in vegetable garden the size of a small field on one side, the familiar trees of the orchard on the other. The peaks of the Rocky Mountains, looming up behind the house like guardians. 

"Tea sounds...nice..." she said, taking one step at a time towards the porch. 

"Hmm. I don't know if I'll need another mug." Caduceus turned to smile at her properly, lifting the pot to see how much tea was left. "I've got some of the Johnson's steeping, but that might not be to your taste." 

"The Johnsons?" she asked, stepping up into the light of the porch. Her heavy boots clunked on the old wood, her hand pale against the splintered column he'd been meaning to repaint. 

"Well, everybody goes somewhere," he said happily, and picked up both pot and mug. "Why don't you come on in?" 

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on tumblr at [critical-ramblings](https://www.critical-ramblings.tumblr.com)!


End file.
